When we think of the people
who tamed the wild west, we tend to think of outlaws,
lawmen, and gamblers, like Billy the Kid, Wyatt
Earp, and Doc Holliday. But the women of
the wild west had to face many of the same
dangers the men did. Not only do these women
deserve our recognition for their character
and achievements, but given that they
had to accomplish what they did in a
male-dominated society, a lot of their actions
were nothing short of downright heroic. Today, we're going
to take a look at some heroines
of the wild west that you wouldn't
want to mess with. But before we get started, be
sure to subscribe to the Weird History channel, and let us
know in the comments below what other wild west topics
you'd like to hear about. OK, now let's find out
if Annie was indeed OK. "Stagecoach" Mary
Fields was born in 1832 and spent her early
life as a slave. However, after the passage
of the 13th Amendment, she found work as
a mail carrier, making her the first
Black woman in history to be a US postal worker. She also worked as a
laborer for a church in Cascade, where,
among other things, she would make
incredibly dangerous runs to Helena, Montana. On one occasion, she was
even chased by a pack of ravenous wolves who wanted to
eat her horses, and maybe her. But nothing could
stop Mary, not rain, nor sleet, nor snow, nor
a pack of ravenous wolves. A 6 foot tall, 200-pound
black woman single-handedly fought the deadly animals off
with a shotgun and revolver. Cathay Williams was determined
to serve her country in the Civil War, but she
had two obstacles in her way at the time-- she was Black and a woman. Being a Black
woman, she wouldn't be allowed anywhere near the
battlefield as anything more than a cook,
laundress, or nurse. But Cathay wanted to fight. Like a heroine right
out of an '80s movie, Cathay disguised
herself as a man. She took the name William
Cathay and was soon deemed fit for duty. This made her the very first
unofficial African American woman to enlist in the US Army. Cathay kept the
ruse up brilliantly. Despite being hospitalized
several times, no one figured out her
secret, or maybe they did and let it slide
because that's pretty cool. In 1898, two Oklahoma
women by the names of SM Burche and Mamie Fossett
shocked their whole state by being appointed
US deputy marshals. A contemporary article
announcing the women's appointments pointed
out that criminals in Oklahoma and in Indian
territory, the districts where these two girls must
operate, are of the most desperate and dangerous class. More lives are lost among
federal officers in a year than in all the rest
of the nation together. It concluded that the two
fearless and independent women must possess metal
of exceptional kind to willingly
undertake such duties. The two would go on to make
arrests and serve warrants in the Indian territory
and, by all accounts, they were successful officers. Most of us have heard
of Annie Oakley. Born in 1869,
Annie would forever be remembered for her
other-worldly sharpshooting skills. Oakley pretty much put
all of her contemporaries to shame, especially
overconfident men. Annie was also highly
dedicated to her family. After the death of her father
when she was just still eight years old, Oakley
would feed her family by hunting game with a rifle. From there, her skills with
guns just continued to grow. She eventually
parlayed those skills into a career in
show business, where she made enough to
support her mother and six siblings
while still making regular donations to charity. Oakley was known for performing
amazing trick shots that no one else could do, including
shooting a cigarette out of her husband's lips,
hitting the edge of a playing card from 30 paces, and hitting
targets behind her while aiming in a mirror. She was so well-respected that
Kaiser Wilhelm II actually let her shoot a cigarette
out of his royal mouth. That is what you call trust-- or flirting. Eleanor Dumont was
a bit of a mystery. While she had a
unique accent that had some guessing she was
from France or New Orleans, no one really knows
where she came from. What is known is that in 1849,
she turned up in San Francisco and found work as a card dealer. A few years later, she moved to
Nevada City, where she opened up her own gambling parlor. Her parlor was known to
be especially elegant, serving champagne
instead of whiskey and refusing entry to men
who were too dirty and dusty. Dumont later
parlayed her success in the gambling
business into a ranch and started raising cattle. Unfortunately, it
all was for naught. Eleanor was cheated
out of her venture by a crooked property
manager named Jack McKnight. McKnight was a con artist
who convinced her to sign the property over to him. He then absconded with all her
money and left her in debt. You could cross a lot of
people, but not Eleanor Dumont. Eleanor hunted down
McKnight and wiped him out with two blasts from a shotgun. Her life never recovered from
the damage the con artist did, but hey, she did
exact her revenge. Born into a family of
outlaws right around 1876, Laura Bullion's path
seemed set at an early age. After a difficult
childhood, she joined up with the Wild Bunch, which
was the same gang that produced legendary outlaws Butch
Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, as well as famous bandits like
Black Jack Ketchum and Kid Curry. She's also known to have
been romantically linked to a bank robber named Ben
Kilpatrick, who once had been a friend of her father. Known for being
tough and stubborn, she eventually earned herself
the nickname Thorny Rose. Laura tore a path of destruction
through the countryside. She robbed trains
and pulled scams until the law finally
caught up with her. It was November of
1901 in Missouri, Bullion was caught and
convicted for participating in what was known as the
Great Northern train robbery. After serving three years
of a five-year sentence, she moved to Texas and supported
herself as a seamstress. While her actions weren't
all that admirable, Pearl Hart made a bold statement
about her vision of feminism. Inspired by Annie
Oakley at a young age, she left her children in
Canada and moved to Arizona. She wanted to experience
the great outdoors and live a cowboy lifestyle,
but she struggled financially and eventually turned
to a life of crime. On May 30, 1899, Pearl
and an acquaintance known as Joe Boot robbed an
Arizona-bound stagecoach. To prepare for the
crime, Hart cut her hair short and dressed as a man. The robbery was a
success, but the getaway-- not so much. Either because they were taking
a strangely circuitous route designed to lose anyone
who was on their trail or because they just
got lost, the pair didn't make it too far. The sheriff was able to catch
up to them with a posse. Boot is alleged to have
immediately surrendered, while Hart is said to have
tried to fight her way free. Despite her efforts,
Pearl was arrested, but she was not done fighting. She refused to recognize
the authority of the court, stating that she would not
consent to be tried under a law that her sex had
no voice in making. After getting out of prison,
Pearl had a brief career in show business, first
reenacting her crime on stage, and later working for
Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show under an assumed name. While you would think a
harlot with a nickname like Big Nose would have
trouble finding clients, Big Nose Kate was
actually said to be wildly successful in her profession. Born Mary Katherine Horony
on November 9, 1849, Kate would quickly
become revered for her legendary
stubbornness and toughness. She spent the later part
of the 19th century moving around the Midwest
and claimed that she liked being a lady of
the night because she didn't want to belong
to any one man or house. Of course, Big Nose
Kate is best remembered for being the on
again, off again companion of Doc Holliday, one
of the famous gunmen who fought in a shootout at the OK Corral. That's right, she
was his Huckleberry. In fact, when
Holliday was locked up for killing a man
in self-defense, Kate set him free by setting
a fire to an old building. As most of the town was
busy fighting the flames, she walked into the jail with
a gun and freed her lover. Thanks to Kate, the two escaped
together and eventually became wild west legends. Lottie Deno learned to
gamble from her father. He would take her
abroad and let her watch him play when he gambled
in some of the best casinos in the world. But after he was killed
in the Civil War, Lottie was left to manage
the family plantation, along with her
mother and sister. When they sent her off to
find a suitable man to marry, Deno instead hooked
up with a gambler named Johnny Golden, who
convinced her to partner up with him for a while. The two eventually
parted ways and Deno began to establish her
own fearsome reputation as a gambler. Deno's skills at the card
table became legendary, and she is known to have played
against a few other wild west legends, including
Doc Holliday himself. In a surprise career change,
she retired from gambling and became a founding member
of St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Deming, Texas. Delia Haskett Rawson was
the first and only woman to drive a stagecoach and carry
the US mail in California. Keep in mind that
Della took on the job at the tender age
of 14 years old. Yes, right around the same age
that most modern kids are just learning how to find their
way around a high school, Rawson was exploring the
frontiers of the American West in a vehicle with
an impressive amount of horsepower-- literally. The teenage girl turned out
to be a bit of a prodigy. She did so well
on her first run, she became the regular backup
driver for the stagecoaches and would continue to
occupy that position for close to 10 years. She would go on to be
the only woman ever to belong to the Pioneer
Stage Drivers of California Association and even serve
as its vice president. So what do you think,
which of these tough ladies impressed you the most? Let us know in the
comments below. And while you're at it, check
out some of these other videos from our Weird History. [MUSIC PLAYING]
